


Babysitter

by all-i-need-is-destiel (Aleakim)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Crushes, De-Aged Castiel, De-Aged Dean, Fluff, M/M, POV Sam, Witches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 05:49:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5993797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aleakim/pseuds/all-i-need-is-destiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was supposed to be an easy case - just some housewives messing with magic for the first time and blowing up some mail boxes - but somewhere along the way something went terribly wrong. <em>Awfully, horrifically wrong</em>!</p><p>Because yesterday Sam entered this small town with his big brother singing along to Led Zeppelin and their angel scowling at the lyrics from the backseat and declaring them confusing.</p><p>And now?</p><p>Now Sam is stuck with two toddlers and he has absolutely no fucking idea how this shit happened.</p><p> </p><p>*  *  *  *  *</p><p> </p><p>  <em>In which the elder Winchester and his angel are turned into three-year-olds, Sam is forced to play the babysitter, Castiel keeps weirding people out with his fancy vocabulary and Dean has got the biggest kid-crush ever.</em></p><p> </p><p>_</p>
            </blockquote>





	Babysitter

 

Sam hates his life.

He really, really does!

And he hates witches.

 _So very much_!

It was supposed to be an easy case - just some housewives messing with magic for the first time and blowing up some mail boxes - but somewhere along the way something went terribly wrong. _Awfully, horrifically wrong_!

Because yesterday he entered this small town with his big brother singing along to Led Zeppelin and their angel scowling at the lyrics from the backseat and declaring them confusing.

And now?

Now Sam is stuck with two toddlers and he has absolutely no fucking idea how this shit happened. There had been just lights and screams and so much confusion Sam couldn’t do anything else than seek shelter behind a table and wait for it to be over. Whatever the hell it was.

And when the magic outburst finally stopped he found himself face to face with a very de-aged Dean, way too small for his big shirt, asking if they could go out for ice cream.

And the saddest part, Sam isn’t even surprised. He knew sooner or later something like this would happen. Well, not exactly _this_ scenario, but he has gotten so used to the crazy and fucked-up he isn’t shocked anymore.

Rather annoyed, mostly.

“You seem tense, Sam,” Castiel observes while eyeing the pancakes in front of him on the diner’s table suspiciously.

The angel didn’t change much, apart from his height. His awareness isn’t connected with his vessel, so he is still good-old Castiel with his frowny face and his freaking bluntness.

Not so much luck with his former big brother though. Dean’s body and mind are those of a three-year-old, innocent and simple-hearted. Sam watches his brother munching a sandwich which seems way too big for him, but he insisted on ordering it anyway, and Sam couldn’t say no to him after losing most of his body mass.

Not to mention the fact that Dean is just criminally cute while pouting. Sam didn’t have the heart to reject him.

“Everything is gonna be fine, Sam,” Castiel continues. “Don’t worry.”

He looks odd in his blue sweater reading _Mommy’s favorite boy_. The first thing Sam did after the whole fiasco was to go shopping since both men - _boys_ , whatever! - drowned in their clothes and Sam really didn’t want to see one of them - Dean most likely - trip over some sleeves and start crying.

Dean chose the sweater for Castiel, smiling happily. Sam wasn’t quite sure at first since Castiel and fathers - and in hindsight maybe mothers too? - were still a touchy subject, but Dean shyly mumbled something about “Cas’ eyes …” - and yeah, the sweater nearly has the same color as Castiel’s eyes - and the angel was charmed in an instant. He never could deny Dean anything.

And now they’re sitting in this diner, surrounded by families with crying and screaming children, and he feels like an awkward single dad. He really isn’t paid enough for that!

“So I’m not supposed to worry?” Sam huffs. “We don’t know what the witches did to you. Is it temporary, is it permanent? And Dean … his memory seems to be messed up.”

Dean appears to remember most of the important things. At least he recognized Sam as his brother instantly and knows about witches and angels. He even seems kind of upset that he can’t drive the Impala anymore or drink some beer.

But at the same time he asked about his Mom tucking him into bed and wondered whether Dad would be up for some baseball.

“Dean is perfectly healthy,” Castiel reassures. “Besides the obvious fact that his body is approximately three years old instead of thirty-seven.”

Dean looks up at the mention of his name, grinning widely.

“Apart from that, I’m certain this situation is only temporary,” Castiel says. “I’m already feeling my vessel’s cells preparing to change back into their original state. I can’t say how long it will take though.”

Sam sighs. He spent the whole night researching, tracking down the witches or at least finding the spell itself and he is fucking exhausted.

“So you’re saying you’re changing back?” Sam asks.

“It won’t happen in the next few minutes or even hours, Sam,” Castiel states firmly. “The witches cast a strong spell, may it have been by accident or not. It will take some time. Weeks, most likely.”

Sam feels his heart drop. “ _Weeks_?”

“I’m sorry, Sam,” Castiel says. “I may be able to counteract the spell, but especially the human mind is fragile and complicated. I could do more harm than good. I would highly recommend to let the spell wear out itself, how long it may take.”

Sam rubs his temple. He really doesn’t look forward to play babysitter for such an amount of time, but Dean’s health is more important than anything else.

“And what about yourself?” Sam asks. “I mean, I get that it’s dangerous for Dean, but for you …?”

Castiel shakes his head. “We’re linked, Sam. If I change back he will too.” He watches Dean intently who chews on a piece of cheese as if it’s the most delicious thing he ever tasted. “It doesn’t matter anyway. My powers and my mind haven’t changed, it’s just my vessel’s appearance.”

Sam leans back in his chair. It’s true, it doesn’t make any difference, Castiel is exactly the way he was before - just … _smaller_.

And kinda cute, but Sam doesn’t comment on that. A powerful angel as old as the world itself maybe wouldn’t take it well to be called ‘adorable’.

“Is everything alright so far?” Their waitress Josie appears out of nowhere, a wide smile plastered on her lips. “You like your sandwich, sweetie?”

Dean takes about ten seconds to realize she is talking to him. He looks up at her, a little bewildered why this lady is interrupting his breakfast, but in the end he grins and says, “It’s yummy.”

Josie beams as if she just received the highest praise she would ever get in her life. “That’s great. You’re _sooo cute_!”

Dean seems to consider if he should protest or not, but finally he just shrugs and focuses on his sandwich again.

“And what about you, honey?” She turns towards Castiel. “How is your pancake?”

Sam put one of his own in front of Castiel ten minutes ago since it would have looked odd otherwise. Sam at least didn’t want to hear annoying questions why he would feed one of his boys and not the other.

Castiel glances up at the waitress. “I haven’t tasted them yet, but they smell quite acceptable,” he answers. “Thank you very much.”

Josie raises her eyebrows, obviously a little freaked out by Castiel’s choice of words. “Um … well, you’re welcome.” She throws a glance at Sam, “Call me if you need anything else, okay?”

“Okay,” Dean says, just enthusiastically repeating the word.

“We will,” Castiel adds with the hint of a smile.

As soon as Josie is out of earshot Sam shoots the angel a hard look. “ _Dude_ , I told you not to act suspicious.”

“I did?” Castiel asks confused.

“The way you speak and act … you were a little odd even before, all grown-up body and everything. But _now_ , as a three-year-old – you weird people out, man!” Sam sighs. “I can’t believe I would ever use these words, but in this case Dean sets the example. Follow his lead.”

Castiel frowns. “Dean ate a bug twenty minutes ago!”

Sam groans. “I know it’s not easy but - _WAIT_ , he ate a _bug_? What kind of bug?” Suddenly he feels his heart rate increase and he can’t help it although he knows he is overreacting. Castiel wouldn’t be so fucking calm if there would be anything wrong with Dean, but still, there is this irrational fear inside him that his big little brother is gonna die a horrible death – choked by a bug or something equally ridiculous – if he won’t look out for him very closely.

Is this how parents feel all the time? Afraid and scared that this big cruel world could eat their little poopers alive while they’re not looking?

“He is fine, Sam,” Castiel reassures him for the second time in five minutes. “I don’t think he found the experience very pleasant.”

Dean looks back and forth between them and although he probably doesn’t understand Castiel’s fancy words he gets the sentiment and nods in agreement. “It’s _yucky_!” he declares with determination.

Sam sighs. “How about you stop eating stuff you’re not supposed to eat, huh, buddy? Like bugs … or the paper napkin ten minutes ago. It’d be very helpful, okay?”

Dean smiles brightly. “Okay!” he parrots, obviously fascinated by this one small word.

“I’ll watch over him,” Castiel promises in a very serious tone that sounds freaking odd from an adorable toddler with a tooth gap.

In the meantime Sam buries his face in his hands. “I can’t handle this for _weeks_ , man! I’ll go nuts!”

Dean looks cute enough, but Sam knows that he’s gonna be a handful. As proven he likes to shove _anything_ in his mouth, edible or not, he is easily distracted and he would probably go with a demon if it’d ask nicely.

At least Dean is potty trained. Sam wouldn’t be able to handle _that_ otherwise!

“Okay, we really need to find those witches,” Sam says. “We can’t let them run around, changing people into children. And _angels_.”

Castiel looks at him with that intense stare only Dean seems to withhold. “They didn’t transform me, just my vessel. They wouldn’t be able to harm me, Sam. I only let it happen since I feared for Dean’s mind. I didn’t want to risk anything.”

Sam nods. “Fine, but still … Maybe they can reverse the spell.”

Because _hours_ or at least _days_ sounds way better than _weeks_.

“Maybe,” Castiel confirms. “But I wouldn’t count on that. They seemed fairly surprised when they witnessed me and Dean changing.”

Sam sighs. “I see.”

He throws a glance at Dean who struggles with his sandwich and looks utterly adorable. It’s gonna be tough, Sam has no doubt about that, but he faced bigger challenges before than a three-year-old boy.

What’s the worst that could happen?

 

*  *  *  *  *

 

For a few hours Sam is actually convinced he’s gonna get through that without much harm.

But then the nightmares begin.

Well, not his, since he is quite awake at the time, researching at his laptop, Castiel by his side.

No, it’s Dean’s little body that starts to fidget after an hour of sleep. He didn’t make much of a fuss before, obviously pretty exhausted, so he let Sam manhandle him into a cute pajama with moons and stars and stuck into bed. He didn’t even want to hear a story or anything which Sam was actually grateful for since he wasn’t in the mood to recite a fairy tale or just a freaking Disney movie.

No, Dean just dropped dead and Sam hoped for a few hours of quiet.

And now his brother is wide awake and crying and it’s breaks Sam’s fucking heart.

“Hey, buddy,” he says softly. He takes place on the bed and puts Dean in his arms. “It’s alright. No one’s gonna hurt you.”

Dean sobs and buries his little face in Sam’s chest. “Where’s Mummy?”

Well, _now_ Sam’s heart is definitely broken.

The first ten seconds he has a lump in his throat and doesn’t know what to respond. Something like “Mom is dead, sorry about that” seems absolutely inappropriate since Dean’s whole body is shaking as if he watched the most horrible pictures during his nightmare.

And Sam _really really_ hopes he didn’t dream about Hell. Because he wouldn’t want any child to witness something like that.

“Wanna tell me what you saw?” Sam asks softly.

Dean immediately shakes his head. “No.”

“Okay. Do you want something? Maybe some milk?”

“No.”

“You think you can go back to sleep?”

Dean just shrugs. He’s clearly exhausted, but too afraid to close his eyes.

“I could share the bed with you if you want.”

“No!” Now Dean sounds outright scandalized like this proposal is absolutely ridiculous and shouldn’t be discussed at all. “You’re m’ litt’ brother.”

Sam chuckles. “Right now I’m older than you … I guess. And it’s totally okay to let your little brother help you, there’s nothing wrong with that. I can protect you from the monsters.”

Dean shakes his head vigorously, obviously still too much of a tough guy to accept support by his brother.

“Cas,” he finally whispers. Suddenly he looks very unsure and shy, biting his bottom lip and glancing at the angel who still sits at the table and watches the brothers silently.

“What about Cas?”

“He … can protect me?” It sounds more than a question than anything else.

Sam smiles. “I’m sure he can,” he confirms. “Hey, Cas? Would you mind sharing the bed with Dean?”

The angel frowns. “I don’t require sleep,” he says. But just one look at Dean’s watery big green eyes and he backpedals immediately. “But I think I can make an exception.”

Dean tries to seem not too happy about that and fails miserably. He scoots over and watches intently how the angel climbs into bed with him. Castiel obviously wants to keep a respectable distance, but Dean has none of that. He grabs the surprised angel, buries his face in Castiel’s chest and sighs contently.

Sam can’t help but smile (and he hastily takes his phone and shoots a picture – for future blackmail) while Castiel looks highly bewildered.

“He’s … very different as a child,” he finally concludes.

“Yeah, we change quite a big deal normally,” Sam says. “At least certain mannerisms. And children crave human contact more than adults.” He hesitates and shakes his head. “No, let me rephrase that: Children are mostly not afraid to show their longing for contact. Somewhere along the way we lose that.”

And it’s quite a shame actually. They all need a hug or two sometimes but most of the times are too hesitant to ask.

“I understand,” Castiel says in that tone that implicates that he learned a valuable lesson about humankind today while returning Dean’s attempts of cuddling cautiously. At first he seems unsure what to do, but at last he settles his hand in Dean’s hair (still overly careful like Dean is a doll which could break any moment) and the boy smiles happily before drifting back to sleep in no time.

After that incident Dean loses his shyness around the angel more and more. The next morning he offers Castiel to share his pancakes with him and the angel (still a little dumbfounded, so it seems) accepts willingly, obviously eager to see the joyful beam on Dean’s face. After breakfast his brother grabs the angel’s hand carefully and looks downright delighted when there is no resistance on Castiel’s side, just an awed expression.

So they start holding hands – _all the freaking time_!

It’s actually quite hilarious since Castiel still looks unsure if he’s hallucinating or not and his confused face while Dean keeps blabbing about some trifles is worth at least a few more pictures on Sam’s phone.

Yes, Dean’s adorable huge crush is showing big time and he -– on the contrary to his adult version –- makes no attempts to hide it.

He takes Castiel everywhere and offers him small gifts like rocks he picks up from the side of the road or beautiful flowers. One time Sam finds him in some stranger’s front yard digging in a flower bed because there are some blossoms that nearly have the same color as Castiel’s eyes and Dean insists on fetching them for the angel.

Castiel himself seems uncertain what to do with all that attention, but one day he obviously decides not to question Dean’s behavior but enjoy it instead. They become inseparable, even more so than before, and it’s probably the best and most awesome thing Sam ever witnessed before.  

On the 6th day they find the witches. As Castiel said before they’re highly surprised by the power they achieved and when Sam tells them they played around with some very heavy stuff and probably used human blood (instant of pig’s blood like they all assumed), maybe even that of a virgin or an infant, for their spell, they look outright horrified. Obviously they never meant to go that far and start to cry when they learn what they’ve done.

And Sam is quite sure they’ll never use magic again so he lets them off the hook with a warning and the promise to return if they should act out of line again (although he sincerely doubts that – two of them even start to puke when they hear about the blood thing).

So Sam prepares to leave town the next day. Normally it’s not that much of a fuss, but now he needs some supplies – especially a child’s seat because he doesn’t need trouble with the authorities – and tries to gather some nerves since he will be in the car for about eight hours with a three-year-old. And an angel too, but he doubts that Castiel will be much of a problem.

As expected Dean isn’t thrilled about the child’s seat and starts to whine. It doesn’t help in the slightest that Castiel isn’t forced to be strapped to one of this things too (Sam couldn’t bear the thought to put an angel of the Lord in a fucking _child’s seat_ ).

“Dean, please,” Sam begs. “I know it sucks, but it’s far too dangerous to just throw you in the Impala and hope for the best, okay?”

“But Cas …”

“Cas is an angel,” Sam reminds the boy. “He can take care of himself. But you are … um …”

“A baby?” Dean scowls, clearly not happy about this. He squirms and tries to get out of the seat, damn the fucking consequences.

“Dean, do you really wanna stay here for weeks?” Sam asks exasperated. “Because if you don’t stay in that freaking seat, we won’t move an inch, understood? We will sleep in that crappy motel room for weeks, man. Do you want that?”

Dean pouts, but starts to calm down a little bit.

“Don’t you miss the bunker? The memory foam?”

And Dean obviously still remembers the comfort of his own bed. “Okay,” he finally complies and Sam sighs in relief.

The drive itself is not as exhausting as Sam anticipated. Sure, Dean is bored after twenty minutes and starts to fidget again, but Castiel is able to distract him with some stories of his past. Dean listens closely, fascinated by Castiel’s voice and apparently eager to learn more about Castiel’s time before he met the Winchesters (and Sam must confess he likes to listen to that too), but sooner rather than later he complains non-stop and even Castiel isn’t able to calm him down.

“He doesn’t like being strapped down,” Castiel tells Sam during a break while they’re watching Dean running around in the grass, chasing a bug. “He feels helpless. Like a prisoner. Like … in Hell.”

Sam sighs. He never thought about that. “Shit,” he hisses. “I know it’s not ideal, but I can’t just let him climb around in the car. He could get seriously hurt or something.”

“I’m aware, Sam,” Castiel says. “But he is a child now. And as I heard children have a tendency to sleep in cars. Maybe we should just let him exhaust himself.”

It’s a good enough plan, but Dean still needs about half an hour before he finally falls asleep. And fortunately he stays that way when they reach the bunker.

Sam carries the little boy inside, lays him into his bed cautiously and takes a look around, groaning. The weapons on Dean’s wall look way more threatening than usual and the rest of the bunker is a death trap as well. How could Sam forget that?

“Cas, we need to clean up!” Sam orders. “I don’t want Dean to stab himself or burn himself or curse himself.”

And so they spend way too much time making the bunker as child-proof as possible. It’s clearly not enough, they still need to keep a close eye on Dean, but it’s the best they can manage.

And Sam starts to worry constantly. When Dean stays too close at the oven or crawls under the library’s tables, Sam imagines hundred different and terrible scenarios in his head. And it’s unnecessary, he knows, since Castiel is nearly 24/7 at Dean’s side, but Sam can’t make those ridiculous concerns stop.

It’s fucking exhausting.

And at the same time he wonders if Dean worried about him like that as well back in the days. If he had nightmares about his little brother shooting himself with Dad’s gun or something like that. And Dean had been a child himself at the time, a kid who actually shouldn’t be worried about anything in the world.

Sam feels bad all of a sudden. Sure, it’s not his fault, but he thinks he should have been more grateful in the past. He took Dean for granted most of the time and Dean didn’t deserve that one bit. His brother sacrificed so much to make Sam’s life a little bit better.

So maybe it’s kinda nice that right now Dean is able to be a kid and nothing else. No hunter, no caretaker, no babysitter – just a child!

Sam starts to tell him stories every night and Dean enjoys it immensely. He always wants to hear some hunter tales and Sam delivers, smiling slightly when Dean starts to cuddle and drifts off ten minutes later.

He makes pancakes shaped like animals every other morning and Dean squeals with delight every time he recognizes one of the animals. Admittedly Sam sometimes just goes with it since he’s not that great of a pancake-artist and his elephants and dinosaurs look more like abominations than anything else, but Dean loves it nonetheless.

On the 14th day it starts to snow and Dean is absolutely enthusiastic. He practically drags Sam out of the bunker, laughing and screaming while jumping into the snow. With Sam’s help he builds an impressive snowman and he’s more than eager to show a bewildered Castiel how to make snow angels.

On the 17th day they visit the town and Sam makes up a story about some friend’s kids he watches out for a while. In the meantime Dean greets the few people in Lebanon they ‘know’ – like the supermarket cashier or the nice lady from the drugstore – and everyone is freaking overjoyed to make Dean’s acquaintance. Dean loves the attention, but when he starts to talk about the bunker with all its weapons Sam hastily laughs it off as a joke and pulls Dean away before he’s able to spill some more secrets.

On the 18th day Dean gives Castiel a present he bought in town the day before with Sam’s help. It’s a snow globe, nothing fancy or anything, but Dean had been fascinated by it and so is Castiel as it seems. He mumbles a _“Thank you”_ and blushes when Dean presses a light kiss on his temple, grabs his hand and says, “C'mon, let’s play with _real_ snow.” Castiel agrees without hesitation and so it’s maybe the first time in existence that an angel participates in a snowball battle.

On the 19th day Dean tells Castiel that he’s his best friend and he wants the angel to stay forever. Castiel just nods, obviously too stunned to phrase a coherent sentence.

On the 20th day Dean wakes up from a nightmare and can’t stop crying, no matter how much Castiel tries to calm him down. Only when Sam lies down on the bed with them (and doesn’t think too hard about the fact that he is snuggling with his big brother and an angel of the Lord), he slowly starts to quieten down.

And it’s on the 22nd day when Castiel comes to Sam on the verge of bedtime and announces, “It happens tonight.”

Sam frowns confused. “What happens?”

“We are changing back,” Castiel explains. “I can feel it.”

Sam’s eyes widen when he finally realizes what the angel is about to say. “You mean … I won’t be the babysitter anymore?”

“If you want to phrase it that way, then yes.”

Sam smiles brightly. It’s been such a long time he almost can’t imagine it any other way. It’s actually kind of funny how fast you can get used to something.

“Finally!” he declares. “I will be able to call my brother 'jerk’ again!”

Castiel scowls. “Is this the most important issue at hand?”

Sam snorts. “Do you have any idea how hard it’s been? I’m so used to our bickering and this little Dean-version … he’s just way too cute to say any bad word to him, you know? It would be like kicking a puppy or something.” He sighs. “I just miss talking to my brother.”

Castiel nods understandingly.

“But, um … Cas?” Sam starts cautiously. “You need to know … uh. I’m not sure how to say it.”

“You want to warn me that the adult Dean will most probably be embarrassed about his behavior these past few weeks and start to treat me differently,” Castiel says. “Am I correct?”

“Um … yeah.”

“Don’t worry, Sam. I will handle it.”

And there is something in Castiel’s eyes Sam isn’t quite sure how to read.

“Sammy?” Dean’s voice makes them both turn around. The boy stands at the door, Batman pajama in one hand and obviously awaiting Sam’s nightly story time session.

“Hey, Dean.” Sam picks him up easily and yes, he’s gonna miss that somehow. “What story do you want to hear tonight? How Dad kicked the ass of that banshee?”

Dean shakes his head. “Wolf!” he responds.

“A werewolf-story? Sure, coming right up!” He takes a look at the clothes in Dean’s hand. “But you can’t wear your PJ tonight, buddy. I’m sorry.”

“Why not?”

“I’m gonna give you one of your old shirts,” Sam says. “They’re way too big, but you’ll thank me in the morning.”

Dean doesn’t look too happy about that. “Batman!” he grumbles.

“No, dude, you’re gonna change tonight. And if you wear your pajama, you’ll destroy it. Do you want that?”

“But _Batman_ …” he whines.

Sam sighs. “Do you trust me?”

Dean doesn’t even hesitate for a second. “Yes!”

“Then believe me,” Sam reassures softly. “Keep them off, only for tonight. It’s gonna be safe, I make sure of that. Okay?”

Dean nods. “Okay,” he whispers. He wraps his tiny arms around Sam’s neck. “Love you.”

Sam feels a lump in his throat. He can’t remember the last time Dean said those words to him.

He embraces the little guy and says, “I love you too, Dean. So much.”

It’s about five hours later when Sam hears noises from the room next door. He shuffles out of bed and can’t help a wide grin when he hears Dean’s gruff – and very adult sounding – voice complain, “Jeez, Cas, put some damn clothes on!”

Castiel is thankfully fully clothed when Sam enters Dean’s room, trench coat and all. He feels so relieved to see the angel in his familiar vessel that he just grabs him by the collar and pulls him into a firm hug. “It’s good to have you back!”

“I was never really gone, Sam,” Castiel reminds him but returns the embrace nonetheless.

Finally Sam turns to his brother. Dean wears the shirt Sam put him on a few hours ago and he wrapped the sheets around his waist.

“Hey, Sammy!” he says with a lopsided smile.

“Hi, jerk!” Sam greets him enthusiastically and hugs him as well, as tight as he can manage without suffocating his brother. “I’ve missed you.”

Dean laughs lightly. “Thank you, Sam. For taking care of me and all that shit.”

Sam pulls back a little and shakes his head. “No, Dean. You of all people don’t need to thank me for that. I mean you helped to raise me a great deal back in the days and you were only a child yourself. I need to thank _you_!” Before Dean is able to contradict Sam continues, “Besides, it wasn’t that big of a deal anyway. You’ve been too enthralled by Cas to make much trouble.”

Dean starts to fidget. “Shut up!” he hisses.

But Sam just laughs. “Don’t deny it. I’ve got pictures to prove it. So much pictures!”

Dean doesn’t seem all that happy about Sam’s photo gallery, but before he gets a chance to say anything Castiel suddenly appears beside them. “It’s good to see you back healthy and … thirty-seven.”

Dean snorts. “Yeah. It’s nice to have you back too.”

“As I said before I wasn’t really –”

“Yeah, yeah, I get that,” Dean interrupts. “Then it’s nice to see the whole holy tax accountant back in action, okay?”

Castiel looks like he wants to object again but in the end he just smiles slightly and nods. “Thank you, Dean.”

Dean clears his throat, clearly uncomfortable under Castiel’s intense gaze although he, to Sam’s utter surprise, doesn’t avoid it.

“Um … I’d like to put some clothes on, so …”

“Dean?”

“Yeah, Cas?”

“Do you still want to go to the park with me?”

Dean freezes. “What?”

“You told me yesterday you wanted to show me the park with its big lake,” the angel explains patiently. “Although I won’t hold you to that. I know the situation must be discomforting for you. I just wanted to make sure -”

“It’s not really a lake,” Dean blurts out. “Um … I mean, mini-me thought it’s a fucking ocean, but it’s more of a pond actually. Not that exciting to begin with. But … if you still want to go …”

Castiel smiles, as surprised as Sam that Dean didn’t wave it off. “I would like that very much, Dean.”

The hunter looks flustered. “Uh … okay, great. But like I said it’s not fucking exciting. If there is more serious angel business –”

He cuts himself off when Castiel takes his hand like all these weeks before. Dean blushes furiously, but again he doesn’t retreat. From Sam’s point of view it actually seems as if he squeezes Castiel’s hand lightly.

“I like to spend my time with you, Dean,” the angel reassures.

And Sam suddenly gets the feeling he is intruding on a very intimate moment here. So he backs down, grinning widely. Maybe there’s gonna come out a good thing from this after all.

“Hey, Sammy?”

Sam turns around. “Yes?”

Dean seems to need all his willpower to take his eyes off of Castiel, but eventually he manages. “You’ve still got my Batman PJ, right?”

Sam laughs loudly. “Yeah, Dean. I promised you to keep it safe. Why? You want it back?”

Dean huffs as if Sam’s question is absolutely ridiculous. “Hell, yeah! Even as a kid I had excellent taste.” He throws a side glance at Castiel and grins brightly. “And I know you don’t want to hear it, but still … thank you, bitch!”

Sam laughs. He feels good, _very good_. He’s got his brother back who seems to finally accept that he has got some non-platonic feelings for a certain angel and he doesn’t need to worry anymore if Dean would kill himself with one of the hundred weapons in the bunker when he takes his eyes off his big brother for a few seconds and what could be better than that?

“You’re very welcome, jerk!”

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr: <http://all-i-need-is-destiel.tumblr.com/>


End file.
